This morning a more unique solar event occurred from the current sunspot 1092. A class C3 solar flare was unleashed from this spot along with a nearly simultaneous magnetic filament stretching mostly across the sun’s northern hemisphere. The two events are likely connected by long-range magnetic fields.
The amazing and absolutely beautiful “solar tsunami” was captured in video by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory…
Sunspot 1092 Eruption Video (Watch Video – mpg)
along with the resulting coronal mass ejection imaged from SOHO…
Although a C3-class event represents minimal consequences on Earth, amateur astronomers and high-latitude sky watchers should be prepared for increased auroral activity around August 3rd.
This report comes from Dr. Tony Phillips at SpaceWeather.com posted August 1, 2010.
:: UPDATE AUGUST 2, 2010 ::
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory has presented an updated video of the solar flare, where you can clearly see the filament lift off of the surface into space. [ WATCH QuickTime Video ]